Camping....

Most people love it or hate it. I've decided that I am a fence sitter. There are things that I LOATHE about camping....but there are things that I ADORE about camping.

We just got back tonight from camping with Cliff's immediate and extended Jackson (mom's) family. And the good times out weigh the icky times. For the most part the weather cooperated. Our kids ran wild with cousins, aunties and uncles who love and adore them and think that their mom and dad could do with a couple minutes of break and willingly took them on "adventures" and told us to go hide somewhere. It reminded me of the first camping trip that Cliff and I took together when we were newly weds. We were with all the same people (minus a few who weren't there this time and the ones who have joined the family since) but it reminded me how much I love this side of our family. They are good, fun, wonderful people. And I am thankful that we get to include them in our lives!

We tented....with three kids...and it had it's challenges...but I tried not to dwell on them. Thankfully we were sharing a site with Cliff's parents who have a fabulous new trailer and had everything that we needed kitchen wise and stuff like that. We did bring some stuff but mom told me not to worry too much and made sure to pack extra to help us out in the space department. (The van was PACKED!)

We had a skunk visit every night....one night it walked right into camp and over Cathal's foot! Cliff saw it later that night when he was making a quick trip outside...it ate any dog food left out and last night found a Tupperware container full of Cheerios, pried the lid off and ate those! (I didn't realize he Cheerios were outside - I thought they were in the trailer). The chipmunks also figured out how to open the Velcro top on one of my collapsible coolers and had a their fill of buns and muffins. Wild life is soooo fun.

The kids LOVED LOVED LOVED being outside every waking moment. They never stopped. They were either at the park, walking along the creek on an adventure, at the beach....you get the picture! And I didn't worry about them....to much at least. Because we were surrounded by a big happy family and some one always knew where they were.

All 3 of them bled at least once from scrapes...and we all came home with our share of bruises. Cliff got the worst sunburn the first day at the beach. Silly man didn't listen to his wife and put sun screen on. Zane got sunburned as well because he didn't hold still long enough for me to a good job on his face and shoulders. But he had a blast. He learned to balance on his boogie board standing up while Uncle Jamie pulled it along, got buried in the sand and made into a merman, played Frisbee and just never stopped. Rhett played all the same things but a bit more cautiously. He loved the attention from Uncle Jamie and big cousin Nick...we're lucky to have such great people in their lives! And Brock didn't really like the beach. Part of it was because we drove a half an hour to the beach - the lake we were at didn't have a beach - and he was always asleep instantly and very disoriented when he woke up. So he and I pretty much hung out under the umbrella which suited me just fine. Until Cliff coerced me into the lake saying it would help my headache and then proceeded to dunk me....several times!

We ate, we played, we loved and were loved on. And we were ready to come home! We camped at Premier Lake in BC, which is a 6 hour drive for us and the kids did great both ways. I slept through most of BC thanks to Gravol...and we lived to tell the tale.

Next year we're either getting a topper of a tent trailer......